Japanese singer-songwriter and producer Eiichi Ohtaki passed away at a hospital on Monday, December 30, 2013 after having collapsed at his Tokyo home while eating an apple, a piece which had apparently stuck in his throat causing him to choke. He was 65.

Ohtaki's influential contributions to Japanese pop and folk rock music worldwide could not be more legendary. Born on July 28, 1948, he was perhaps most famous for being the singer/guitarist and founding member of Happy End (pictured left above), a band he formed with fellow Japanese rock heavy hitters Takashi Matsumoto (Apryl Fool), Shigeru Suzuki and Haruomi Hosono (Apryl Fool/Yellow Magic Orchestra). From 1969 to 1972 the ensemble produced three studio albums that pioneered a highly revered heavy acid folk sound that made them Japan's most beloved and critically acclaimed classic rock bands of all time. More recently the ensemble won notoriety stateside when their song "Kaze wo Atusmete" was featured in the soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost In Translation.

Happy End disbanded in 1973, but Ohtaki enjoyed a very successful solo career as a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer working with mid-'70s rockers Sugar Babe as well as prominent artists like Tatsuro Yamashita (pictured below to Ohtaki's left) and Onuki Taeko. His 1981 album A Long Vacation was named "Best Album" of the year at the Japan Record Awards and went on to receive both 20th anniversary and 30th anniversary reissues. [A mildly interesting fun fact: A Long Vacation was also the first Japanese album to be released on CD.]

This past Halloween marked a break in the fog obscuring yet another exciting prospect from the deep diggers and detail sticklers at Numero Group. The past few years has seen the label expanding the scope of their offerings and this one is set to be quite the departure from their former fare, so much so that one might even be tempted to inquire after what they've been smoking. If the above cover art and the amateur Dungeons & Dragons campaign sketches promised to be incorporated into the overall packaging are any indication, I'd wager they got a hold of some good ol' stuff! Slated for a February release, Warfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles is compilation of lost 70s smokers I can really do with already, like, twenty years ago. I'm chuffed to bits for their Purple Snow Minneapolis Sound comp dropping in early December, but this sixteen-sided die seems just as destined for niche-interest veneration as their WTNG 89.9: Solid Bronzecollection.

From Dave Grohl's Sound Cityto 20 Feet From Stardom there have been some really great music-related documentary films released recently, perhaps none so overwhelmingly transcendental as the story of a reliable hit-maker and an iconic sound rooted in a sleepy corner of Alabama called Muscle Shoals.

Between providing the most literal rendering of "I'll Take You There" and dabbling in discovering the metaphysical origins of what has come to be lauded as the "Muscle Shoals sound," Muscle Shoals blends reflective interviews of those who lived and tracked the music, bolstered by snippets and loops of the iconic sound itself, with layers of pastoral vistas and rustic rural vignettes of the surrounding countryside, playing like a gorgeous cinematographic back-mask. Combined with the fleeting highs and the tragic lows experienced by musician, songwriter and Fame Studios producer Rick Hall, his session players, The Swampers (who would later found a similarly nondescript recording studio across town in a former casket factory), among others still living in the glory of the Muscle Shoals nexus, the film also depicts the triumph of a phenomenon bigger than anyone can fully understand nowadays: the earthly crossroads of soul, country, funk and rock and roll at a time when "separate but equal" was the order of the day.

Sao Paulo, Brazil has always had a rich history in music. Some of Brazil's most engaging musicians were spawned in Sao Paulo during the 20th century, including Os Mutantes, who helped create the Tropicalia movement of the '60s, and Samba composers Paulo Vanzolini and Adoniran Barbosa, who wrote one of Brazil's most famous Sambas (see "Trem das Onze"). A late punk and garage scene grew in the '80s while the '90s gave way to a strong drum and bass movement. Fast forward to the 21st century and CSS carries the torch as Sao Paulo's leading purveyors of electronic-dance-rock. CSS exploded onto Brazil's burgeoning "new rave" scene in the early 2000s. Originally a six piece (5 ladies, 1 dude), CSS was one of the early bands to turn Internet fame into a full-fledged career.

Nearly a decade after they famously took their name (Cansei de Ser Sexy) from R&B diva Beyonce, after she declared she was "tired of being sexy," the women of CSS are back with their fourth album, Planta.TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek takes on producer duties and this time around CSS deliver a more polished production. Still full of electro-pop rock angst, CSS remain fun and loud despite losing main songwriter Adriano Cintra. The album's lead single, "Hangover," is a querky synth-pop jam that carries an upbeat feel. Lovefoxxx sings, "Living in Jupiter that spot is free / Martians??/ vampires and bees /
Everyone is floating together / Everyone is partying forever." Party on CSS!

Over the weekend British author, political observer, career anarchist, party animal, journalist, and musician Mick Farren - best known as the leader of the '60's counterculture rock bandThe Deviants - died on Saturday night (7/27) after collapsing onstage during a concert with his longtime band at London's Borderline club. He was 69 years of age. Pre-dating the British punk movement by a decade, The Deviants have been accurately described as the first true anarchist rock band. Following close in their footsteps were The Pink Fairies - the band that The Deviants spawned when formed by three other members in 1970. The Deviants, who first formed in 1967 and broke up in 1969, would get back together intermittently over the decades. There is a great quote by Mick Farren that has been circulating online since news of his passing surfaced in which he famously told an audience, "This is British amphetamine psychosis music and if you don’t like it you can fuck off and listen to your Iron Butterfly albums!"

Always a master of words Farren turned most of his energies to writing about music and culture back in the early '70s sometime after releasing his solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus, which included his version of "Summertime Blues" (below). He never gave up music completely but focused on writing primarily, contributing to such British underground, counterculture publications as The International Times, as well as (later) for such music mags as the NME and The Trouser Press. He has written dozens of books over the years including both fiction (fantasy lit been his forte) and non-fiction, including several books on Elvis Presley and his entertaining autobiography Give The Anarchist A Cigarette. Up until recently Farren had lived in Los Angeles, where he wrote for the Los Angeles CityBeat from 2003 to 2008, before returning back to his English homeland a few years ago.